Pentagon watchdog declines bipartisan request to investigate Starshield slowdowns in Ukraine – CNN

Pentagon watchdog declines bipartisan request to investigate Starshield slowdowns in Ukraine  CNN

The Defense Department’s watchdog has declined a bipartisan request to open an investigation into the slowdown of the SpaceX’s military-grade Starlink system in Ukraine, according to a letter obtained by CNN. Earlier this month, a group of nine bipartisan senators, led by Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, wrote to the Pentagon inspector general asking for “an immediate investigation” into the disruptions to the Starshield and commercial-grade Starlink systems in Ukraine. Kyiv was blindsided in recent weeks with the speed restrictions, which officials said came without warning and severely hampered Ukraine’s defenses. Pentagon Inspector General Platte Moring, in a letter dated Tuesday, said that the senators’ questions about the slowdowns and their impacts should be directed to the US Air Force and Space Force.

“They are better suited to address the matters raised in your letter and to coordinate any Department responses to your questions,” Moring wrote in his letter, which was first reported by the Associated Press. Shaheen said in a statement Wednesday that “it is concerning that the inspector general has apparently decided not to investigate satellite communication disruptions that Ukraine relies on to protect its civilians.” “The Trump Administration and SpaceX have provided conflicting accounts of what led to those disruptions, which weakened Ukraine’s defenses and put American personnel in Ukraine at risk unnecessarily,”